CHILLICOTHE - The Chillicothe Fire Department is aiming for first place in a video competition designed to raise awareness for natural gas safety.

According to Dave Rau of Columbia Gas of Ohio, the purpose of the video competition was to spread a message of safety through a partnership with fire departments statewide.

"We want to make sure that when somebody smells natural gas, they know it's an emergency," Rau said. "So we want them to leave the area immediately, then call 911 and call the gas company. Those are very important steps."

Rau emphasized the importance of realizing any smell of natural gas - strong or faint - is an emergency and can post a danger.

"I think like he said, the key is if you smell natural gas, the first thing is to get out of the house immediately and don't do anything," Chillicothe Fire Chief Jeff Creed echoed. "Don't turn any lights on. Don't turn any lights off. Don't call from inside there. Get outside, use your cell phone once you get outside."

He cautioned the public to go outside right away because they wouldn't want to do anything that could make the situation worse.

Rau openly expressed appreciation for the work the fire department does, adding that the fire department will always arrive on the scene before the gas company will.

"A lot of different things could cause an odor of gas. It could be an appliance in your home, maybe your furnace. If there's a problem, maybe there's a leak on pipes in your home or it could be something outside your home as well," Rau said. "So we want to make sure no matter what it is, don't try to find it out. Don't try to say 'well if it smells worse tomorrow, I'll call.' Leave the area first, then cal 911 and us."

In the video competition, Chillicothe was trailing Toledo by about 400 votes as of Wednesday and Creed said they're hoping to win the $5,000 first-place prize.

"We never really thought we'd have a shot at getting it, so we haven't really talked a whole lot about (what we'd do with the prize)," he said, adding that he'd told his staff if they did the video, they could give him recommendations on what they think the department should spend it on. He went on to say there were always greater quality gas detectors they could purchase.

Out of 12 videos, Chillicothe is trailing Toledo Fire Department by just a little bit, Creed said. He added that people can go on the website and vote every day. Creed himself has shared the link to their department's Facebook page, as well as his personal Facebook account. He's also sent invites to family and friends in hopes that the department would win.

"I think it'd be nice to see small Chillicothe win something like that," Creed said.